The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) announced partial results on Sunday with presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah in the lead.
IEC Chief Mohammad Yousuf Nuristani announced that Abdullah is in the lead with 44.4 percent, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai trails with 33.2 percent and Zalmai Rassoul with 10.4 percent.
"Today's announcement is not final," Nuristani emphasized. "There will be changes in the results as counting continues."
The partial result consisted of 49.67 percent of votes from 34 provinces, adding up to roughly 3.5 million votes nationwide.
Of the 34 provinces in Afghanistan, Abdullah is ahead in 17 provinces, Ghani in second claiming 15 and Rassoul with a majority in two.
Five provinces in the country are considered Grade A—a province with large population and land—that will affect results. These Grade A provinces include Kabul, Herat, Balkh, Nangarhar and Kandahar. From these top five, Abdullah dominates Kabul, Herat and Balkh, while Ghani is winning Nangarhar and Rassoul Kandahar.
Nuristani added that the results were based entirely on votes whose authenticity had been verified. Of the 3.5 million, Abdullah received 1.5 million, Ghani got 1.1 million and Rassoul 350,000.
Ghani is in the lead in the eastern part of the country where the Uzbek population dominates. Rassoul is in the lead in the southern region, specifically in Kandahar and Zabul.
Of the 49.67 percent announced, 10 percent of this was from the initial partial result announced on April 13.
After the release on Sunday, leading presidential candidate Abdullah told TOLOnews that there have not been any talks about creating a coalition among the eight candidates who remain in contention for the presidency.
"I have not met with Ashraf Ghani in respect to forming a coalition," Abdullah said.
Later on Sunday, current runner-up Ghani said in an interview that he was confident the results would soon change.
"The results will change once all complaints have been addressed by the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC)," Ghani said. The ECC has received some 870 complaints that directly pertain to results, and is not expected to complete its investigation and adjudication process until mid May.
Ghani also pointed out that the IEC has still not released the total number of votes nationwide.
Partial results for the remaining presidential candidates are as follows: Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf 7.6 percent, Qutbuddin Helal 2.7 percent, Gul Agha Sherzai 1.6 percent, Daoud Sultanzoy 0.5 percent and Hedayat Amin Arsala with 0.2 percent.
Nuristani said preliminary results will be announced according to schedule.
"We will do our best to announce preliminary results on April 24," he said. "Our employees are working double shifts to ensure that preliminary results are announced as scheduled."
Source/Fuente: http://www.tolonews.com/elections2014/update-abdullah-leads-second-round...
